Enterprises using Google Apps are about to get a boost “ unified communications is en route to their desktop.

Google is a company that has been making noises about unified communications in one form or another for a while; you can call from your main page using Google Apps, IM and of course email.

Enterprise-sized customers will now be able to get full-blown unified communications on their desktop as reseller Ancoris has set up a UK deal with cloud-based Unified Communications vendor Esnatech.

Davide Petramala, Executive Vice President Business Development and Sales for Esnatech, says this plays directly to why people got into Google Apps in the first place. People went to apps because of the collaboration and workspace features, he says. We can now add unified messaging to their existing infrastructure.

This is particularly important, he suggests, from the point of view of protecting existing investment. Typically an enterprise customer will have an existing VMware implementation, its own network and PBX and may not want to rip everything out and start again in search of some Unified Communications nirvana. The new system sits on top of an existing telephony installation.

Petramala confirmed that this new offering is very much aimed at the larger enterprise; it depends on a number of elements already being in place which are unlikely to be present in the average smaller business.

Among the features are follow-me and find-me functions, and the system will user Google Calendar to determine where to route a call depending on what the days entry says someone is doing and where they are. It works in conjunction with Esnatechs Office-LinX Unified Communications platform.

The Google Apps channel is being given the chance to go toe to toe with Microsoft Lync as software-based comms vendor Esna Technologies looks to make waves in the UK market.

The 23-year-old Canadian vendor recently landed its first feet on the street in the UK and is now courting the top tier of Google resellers as it looks to deepen its footprint across Europe. First to sign up is Bracknell-based Ancoris, which has been a staunch Google partner since the search giant first launched its reseller programme in 2009.

Ancoris managing director David McLeman said: "We have just started having conversations with some of our larger customers and are hoping to get a really good attach rate."

Esna claims customers opt for its solution, rather than competitors such as Microsoft Lync and Cisco Jabber, as it interoperates with new and legacy hardware and software technologies from all the major comms vendors.

Davide Petramala, executive vice president of sales and business development at the vendor, claimed the Nortel installed base was particularly fruitful hunting ground for his firm.

"There is a large Nortel base and a lot of their apps are end of life. They would rather go with Esna because they can retain Nortel," he said.

Petramala added that the swathes of enterprise customers in need of an email upgrade provide Esna with the chance to sell a full UC suite.

"About 70 or 80 per cent of the market is on old email, and in 2012-2013 people will be migrating," he explained.

Esna EMEA president Mehdi Nezarati added: "Currently Google only represents three per cent of the enterprise email market. That is going to grow to 60 per cent by 2020."

UK-based Google Esnatech's cloud-enabled UC product, Office-LinX, integrates with Google Apps to provide customers with an array of telephony functions, such as native call control in Google Gmail and Google Contacts, and federated phone presence in Google Talk.

Users can also use their Google Calendar to automatically determine where to route calls, depending on what their calendar says they are doing or where they are located.

"Our strength is in integrating multiple PBX platforms into mail environments, and specifically around Google Apps what we've been able to do is bridge the gap between the on-premise infrastructure and cloud," said Mehdi Nezarati, Esnatech's president of EMEA.

He added that the partnership with Ancoris would enable UK enterprises to drive productivity and reduce IT costs as they migrate to the Google Apps platform.

Ancoris managing director David McLeman said that over 5 million businesses have already "gone Google," driven by the need to reduce costs, support mobility and drive collaboration. He said that the integration between voice and email data is an important aspect of this.

"The ability for a mobile worker to have their voicemail appear in their email, not just as a WAP file but also potentially translated, is allowing the mobile workers to be much more closely integrated," he said.

The Ancoris/Esnatech offering for Google Apps will go head-to-head with Microsoft's Office 365, which includes its own integrated voice component, Lync online. Nezarati said that integrating Google Apps with a software and hardware agnostic UC platform like Esnatech Office-LinX provides the flexibility for organisations to adopt a wider variety of applications.

"Microsoft's whole voice story is about a single vendor, meaning if you want to optimise on a Microsoft voice strategy you have to rip out everything you have. Right now, most enterprises are in no ROI to do that, because their voice infrastructure works very well," said Nezarati.

"With the Google play, they can integrate a very rich collaboration story, which includes voice, without ripping out anything, taking advantage of the apps they have already invested in. Many organisations are now largely going best of breed."

Office-LinX is interoperable with all major mobile operating systems, enabling Ancoris customers to drive enterprise mobility strategies and deliver access to communication and collaboration tools from any device.

Until recently, businesses faced a tough choice when providing mobility solutions for their staff. They could implement unified communications (UC) solutions that would allow users to redirect landline numbers to mobile phones (or the nearest landline) and enable them to access voicemails and faxes from their email inbox. Or they could roll out cloud-based collaboration that lets users access email, documents and collaboration tools from any device “ but without any integration with office phone systems.

Now vendors like Esnatech have taken the next logical step and are delivering UC in the cloud, connecting cloud solutions like Google Apps with traditional office PBXs and fax services. That means Google Apps users can now take advantage of great UC features such as Follow-me or Find-me, where they can have calls to any phone number diverted to any other phone. They can even use their Google Calendar to automatically determine where to route calls, depending on what their calendar says they're doing or where they're located. And that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what UC for Google Apps can provide.

Vendors like Esnatech are also bringing UC within the reach of many more companies. Historically, UC was costly and disruptive to install, because it involved tearing out existing telephone and mail systems and replacing them with new technology. Esnatech's solution, by contrast, allows businesses to create UC solutions by bringing together their current telephone systems and either an existing or a new cloud infrastructure, reaping the cost and collaboration benefits of both UC and cloud without the need for a costly migration project.

Thats why were so excited about our new partnership with Esnatech. With Esnatech on board, we can help our customers take the collaboration, mobility and connectivity provided by Google Apps to a new level, by adding UC.

Esnatech's cloud-enabled UC product, Office-LinX, integrates with Google Apps to provide customers with an array of telephony functions, such as native call control in Google Gmail and Google Contacts, and federated phone presence in Google Talk.

Users can also use their Google Calendar to automatically determine where to route calls, depending on what their calendar says they are doing or where they are located.

Our strength is in integrating multiple PBX platforms into mail environments, and specifically around Google Apps what we've been able to do is bridge the gap between the on-premise infrastructure and cloud, said Mehdi Nezarati, Esnatechs president of EMEA.

He added that the partnership with Ancoris would enable UK enterprises to drive productivity and reduce IT costs as they migrate to the Google Apps platform.

Ancoris managing director David McLeman said that over 5 million businesses have already gone Google, driven by the need to reduce costs, support mobility and drive collaboration. He said that the integration between voice and email data is an important aspect of this.

The ability for a mobile worker to have their voicemail appear in their email, not just as a WAP file but also potentially translated, is allowing the mobile workers to be much more closely integrated, he said.

The Ancoris/Esnatech offering for Google Apps will go head-to-head with Microsoft's Office 365, which includes its own integrated voice component, Lync online. Nezarati said that integrating Google Apps with a software and hardware agnostic UC platform like Esnatech Office-LinX provides the flexibility for organisations to adopt a wider variety of applications.

Microsoft's whole voice story is about a single vendor, meaning if you want to optimise on a Microsoft voice strategy you have to rip out everything you have. Right now, most enterprises are in no ROI to do that, because their voice infrastructure works very well, said Nezarati.

With the Google play, they can integrate a very rich collaboration story, which includes voice, without ripping out anything, taking advantage of the apps they have already invested in. Many organisations are now largely going best of breed.

Office-LinX is interoperable with all major mobile operating systems, enabling Ancoris customers to drive enterprise mobility strategies and deliver access to communication and collaboration tools from any device.

The partnership will allow our customers to take advantage of the seamless integration between Google Apps and Office-LinX„¢, Esnatechs award winning unified communication platform.

Integrating Google Apps with the enterprise telephony infrastructure means users can now take advantage of great UC features such as Follow-me or Find-me. They can even use their Google Calendar to automatically determine where to route calls, depending on what their calendar says they're doing or where they're located. And that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what UC for Google Apps can provide.

Over 5 million businesses have already gone Google, to boost productivity and collaboration while lowering costs. The Ancoris offering of Esnatech with Google Apps will take productivity to the next level, fostering greater collaboration and improving business processes.

Ancoris Managing Director, David McLeman commented: Our partnership with Esnatech will bring UC within the reach of many more companies. Historically, UC was costly and disruptive to install, because it involved tearing out existing telephone and mail systems and replacing them with new technology. This solution, by contrast, allows businesses to create UC solutions by bringing together their current telephone systems and either an existing or a new cloud infrastructure, reaping the cost and collaboration benefits of both UC and cloud without the need for a costly migration project. With Esnatech on board, we can help our customers take the collaboration, mobility and connectivity provided by Google Apps to a new level, by adding UC.

Mehdi Nezarati, Esnatechs President of EMEA, added, Esnatech continues to expand its network of premier Google Apps resellers in key global markets. Together with Ancoris, a leading Google reseller, we enable enterprises to drive productivity and reduce IT costs as they migrate to the Google Apps and Gmail platform and deploy industry-leading UC solutions across the UK.

Office-LinX seamlessly integrates a broad array of enterprise telephony with Google Apps to provide customers with native call control in Google Gmail and Google Contacts and federated phone presence in Google Talk.

Because the Office-LinX software is interoperable with all major mobile operating systems, including RIM BlackBerry, Apple iOS, Google Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian devices, Ancoris customers will be able to drive greater enterprise mobility and deliver access to communication and collaboration tools and business productivity solutions from any device and any location.